New Delhi: For the expansion of global capacity and production of remdesivir, the drug that has shown results for shortening time for Covid-19 patients, the Gilead Science Inc has said it is working to ensure availablity of the medicine globally.
The company is in discussions with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Cipla, Jubilant Lifesciences, and Strides Pharmaceuticals for granting them voluntary licences for manufacturing the drug, in India. They said “We do not comment on market speculations,” a spokesperson of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said.
The company told that it is aware of requirements by manufacturers for license of their intellectual property under various pooled arrangements.
Tsang said, “We will carefully consider whether these proposals would benefit the amount of supply or the speed at which it is made available once we understand the details of such proposals. Gilead would look at ways to potentially bring the treatment to a broader patient population by investigating other formulations and means of delivery. At present, remdesivir is given to patients through intravenous infusion.”
Remdesivir last week, also received an emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), making it the first authorised drug for the virus that has paralysed life in large parts of the world and caused the death of nearly quarter million people.
The trial results showed that the drug reduced the recovery time from 10 to 5 days for moderate patients.
“We are aware that Gilead is in discussions with Indian generic companies for granting voluntary licences,” said a government official.
